« Advancing The Ball On Social Security. | WILLisms.com | Only 20 Political Websites. »

Castro and Chavez: The "Axis Of Subversion."

The axis of subversion is at it again:

The leaders of Cuba and Venezuela relished their roles as Washington's bad boys in Latin American on Friday and vowed to build a socialist alternative to U.S. policies in the hemisphere.

The two leaders met this week in Cuba. One Marxist publication put it this way:

Cuban president Fidel Castro and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez presided over the signing of protocols that strengthen bilateral ties, within the context the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americans, known by its Spanish acronym, ALBA.

Peter Brookes, earlier this month, called Hugo Chavez Castro's Mini-Me (but this Castro replica has almost unlimited oil wealth at his personal disposal):

For no apparent reason, the leftist strongman is arming Venezuela to the teeth. He's also supporting local narcoterrorists and other Latin revolutionaries.

Chavez idolizes Cuba's Fidel Castro, is chummy with Libya's Moammar Khadafy and was a Saddam Hussein pal. He's made nasty remarks about President Bush and "suggestive" public comments about Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

According to Gerver Torres, a former Venezuelan government minister, Chavez's "main motivation now is to do everything he possibly can to negatively affect the United States, Bush in particular . . . trying to bring together all the enemies of the United States."

....

Fortunately, the Bush administration recognizes this and is beginning to craft a new policy to deal with Chavez. The best approach will include working with other regional leaders to contain and isolate him, while not inflaming the dictator's popular support at home.

Chavez recently announced his intent to export his "Bolivarian revolution" (read: Cuban revolution). Considering his disastrous socialist economic and repressive political record at home, we'd better stop him before he gets started.

Robert Mayer, of Publius Pundit, wonders:

How is it that the MSM can give hours of its reporting each day to the skunk on Donald Trump’s head while elsewhere in our own backyard the forces of communism are working to send the entire western hemisphere into chaos?

While Chavez was putting on a show with Castro in Cuba, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was criss-crossing Latin America, something former Secretary Powell largely neglected to do, laying on a charm offensive to isolate Chavez. She visited Brazil, Colombia, Chile, and El Salvador, promoting hemisphere-wide free trade and freedom, urging young democracies "do not turn back."

While freedom is advancing around much of the world, including the Middle East, the United States must be mindful of the growth potential of the Chavezista movement in Latin America. With such meaningful petroleum resources, Chavez has the ability to manipulate, agitate, and otherwise cause mayhem in the region.

For example, Venezuela's state-run company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) just recently opened an office in Havana, Cuba, increasing Venezuela's commitment to offer preferential terms (cheap oil) to the import-dependent Castro regime, underscoring the geopolitical power Chavez wields through his oil resources.

Indeed, over the past few years, PDVSA-owned CITGO executives have resigned, left and right, in protest of the crookedness and cronyism of Chavez:

Current and former Citgo executives have revealed in recent weeks that Chávez has shaken to the core the company's once-staid culture, leaving Citgo in a state bordering on disarray. Almost every high-ranking executive has resigned over the past two years, including the refining chief, chief financial officer, head auditor and marketing director. Geoff Reid, a former assistant treasurer, said in an interview that he had left in part because it had become hard to track the company's cash flow and he had become concerned about his "personal liability" in approving Citgo's financial statements....

Of the recent moves, perhaps the most debilitating have been Chávez's efforts to put his loyalists, including some former military colleagues, in charge of the company.

Like a third-rate Middle Eastern dictator, Chavez has great wealth at his disposal, and he takes advantage of this petro-power at every given chance. The delay of the Free Trade Area of the Americas is just one example of how Chavez has created problems for American policy. Chavez and Castro dream of a single, united, Marxist Latin America (and Caribbean). For now, the leaders of Venezuela and Cuba will settle for a melding of their two economies, a move that will all but ensure Castro remains in power until his death.

Posted by Will Franklin · 30 April 2005 03:54 PM

Comments

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at May 1, 2005 10:25 AM

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at May 1, 2005 11:36 AM

Posted by: An Other at June 11, 2005 12:04 PM